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A guy thing: Eating disorders increase in men

Patrick Bergstrom appeared to have a perfect life when he graduated from Wesley College. A talented lacrosse player, he completed a business major and matriculated alongside his future fiancée in 2005. He

"I think many parents are very concerned that their daughter would develop an eating disorder, but they may not have the same concerns about their son," said Alison Field, the lead author of the study and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.

The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, surveyed a group of 5,527 teenage males nationwide from 1999 to 2011.

The results indicated that 17.9% of teenage males were extremely concerned about their physique — and more likely to engage in dangerous behaviors such as alcohol and drug abuse.

Though women with eating disorders tend to be concerned with thinness, Field said, men become concerned about their muscularity and athletic build.

The survey said 2.4% of men experienced anxiety about muscularity and used supplements, growth hormone derivatives or steroids to control their body shape. Most estimates indicate that one of 10 people with an eating disorder is male.

Field said that ratio is probably smaller. The diagnostic criteria for eating disorders are designed around symptoms exhibited in women.

"In the past decade or so, we've seen the fastest increase in rates of eating disorders is in adolescent males," said Sari Fine Shepphird, a clinical psychologist and eating disorder expert based in Calabasas, Calif.

“Men who are more likely to associate masculinity with big muscles are more likely to engage in behaviors that are unhealthy like excessive exercise or taking unhealthy supplements to decrease body fat.”

Sari Fine Shepphird

Shepphird attributes the recent spike to cultural depictions of the ideal masculine body.

"We've always had fashion magazines that depict an ideal body weight for women, but just over a decade ago, there were very few magazines that appeal an ideal body shape for men," Shepphird said. "Now, there's more than 20 where we have the male body ideal being portrayed."

Advertisements, models and actors stress the importance of muscularity to masculinity, Shepphird said.

"Men who are more likely to associate masculinity with big muscles are more likely to engage in behaviors that are unhealthy like excessive exercise or taking unhealthy supplements to decrease body fat," she said.

College athletes such as Bergstrom, who are required to maintain fit bodies, are more susceptible to eating disorders than the rest of the male population, Shepphird said.

Finding treatment for disorders can be difficult — especially for men.

"There weren't too many places who took guys in 2008," said Bergstrom, who completed a 30-day treatment program. He also struggled with a drinking problem."I was the only guy."

Diagnosis of an eating disorder can also be difficult, Shepphird said, because many doctors stereotype eating disorders as solely female conditions.

"A lot of behaviors we associate with eating disorders can be considered a 'guy thing,'" Shepphird said. "Somebody might take a supplement to lose weight and increase muscle weight. It's not only true that men are less likely to recognize it in themselves but doctors are less likely to diagnose it."

People can be reluctant to seek help for their conditions.

"Eating disorder symptoms can be a source of comfort and of predictability and even offer a false sense of stability or a false sense of control," said Shepphird, who stressed the importance of getting treatment."There's no gender discrimination as far as the mortality rate for eating disorders."

For Bergstrom, seeking treatment to overcome his eating disorder drastically improved his life. He speaks at middle and high schools about the dangers of eating disorders.

"I tell them that it's not your fault, you can't blame yourself. Things like this happen in life," he said. "An eating disorder is not a choice, but recovery is."